In order to look up words in non-electronic Japanese dictionaries, you'll need to know the alphabetical order of the kana. To learn it, memorize the nonsensical phrases "AKA SATANA HAMA YARAWA UNG n' ん" and "A I U E O".
Then take ino account that S + I = SHI, T + I = CHI, T + U = TSU.
Now the order of the kana is "a i u e o ka ki ku ke ko
sa SHI su se so ta CHI TSU te to na ni nu ne no..."
and so on, up to "wa wo n' ん".
Copyright (c) 2003-2004 Jordi Mas Trullenque. Page revised 2004-02-28.
Self-link: http://purl.oclc.org/NET/manga/hirakatical.en.html